Not Applicable.
The present invention relates to surgery and it particularly relates to the maintenance of a sterile field in the vicinity of a surgical procedure.
In many surgical procedures, fluoroscopes, endoscopes, monitoring instrumentation or other devices are required, which employ video monitors or similar display screens to display images, messages or results which aid in the surgical procedure. Often the monitor is placed close to the surgeon, in or near the sterile field. However, monitors are generally not sterilizable, so a sterile drape must then be placed over the monitor to isolate it from the sterile field. General practice is to use a commonly available or generic operating room sterile drape for this purpose. However, such drapes, although of thin polymer material, are not highly transparent and may cause the display image to become distorted or poorly visible. Such draping also impedes access to the monitor in the event that adjustment, or user entry of information in the case of a touch screen display, becomes necessary.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a more effective drape.
It would further be desirable to provide a monitor drape having at least a portion of high transparency.
It would further be desirable to provide a monitor drape that closely fits the monitor.
It would also be desirable to provide a sterile monitor drape having at least a region of high clarity that lies flat on a monitor screen and is effectively transparent to both light and touch.
One or more of these and other desirable ends are achieved in accordance with the present invention by the provision of an operating room drape having a window sized to fit a display screen of a monitor, and a draping body extending about the window for covering and isolating the monitor. The window is formed of a high transparency polymer, and is preferably of a thickness that allows transmission of tactile pressure, enabling touch-screen data entry through the drape. The draping body may be formed of a polymer bag, with the window secured in a cut-out region. The window may be treated with anti-glare material to assure visibility of the underlying screen. It may be formed of an electret material, i.e., one having immobilized static charge carriers, or otherwise treated such that it adheres flat to the display screen.